When Damon pulled open the shower door and stepped inside, he had an angry scowl on his face. It was anger directed at himself for being such a coward, but Jun saw it differently.

What he saw was a naked, nesting omega with a pout and furrowed eyebrows. He could only reach one conclusion.

His pouty omega must be upset that he left the nest without telling him.

Far from being at all disgruntled from Damon allowing himself in on his private bath time, Jun instead wrapped Damon in slippery arms and planted a big smooch on his furrowed brow. The smack echoed loudly in the enclosed shower cubicle. It was an apology.

Damon, who had no idea that he was being seen as a pouty housewife, was taken aback by the enthusiastic response. So – maybe intruding on shower time wasn't as big a deal as he was making it out to be?

He relaxed, furrowed brow smoothing, and Jun took it that his omega was appeased for the moment, beginning to purr happily, which was also magnified by the shower acoustics, filling the space with a soothing humming.

As naturally as breathing, Jun barely even hesitated to pick up the shampoo and start washing Damon's hair for him, you know, like a sweetheart. Damon leaned into the gentle scrubbing and let his brain fizzle out into radio silence for a while. It was only once he finished conditioning Damon's hair and moved on to scrubbing his body that Damon pulled himself out of it and blinked sleepily up at Jun. Jun was not to be distracted, however, and he studiously finished cleaning Damon and letting him rinse off under the spray before acknowledging him.

It was all very...domestic. Damon hoped his heated cheeks could be passed off as a flush from the steam. He hated that he had to ruin it.

"Jun," he said, "I have to go to the courthouse today. Just for a bit, and then I'll be back."

Jun frowned, and Damon readied himself to be firm. "Courthouse? Why?"

Damon explained why. He expected frowns and pouts and even a little anger – because Damon knew Jun wasn't okay, in any sense, with this whole courtship fiasco. Jun was quiet for a while, letting the rumble of the shower fill the silence, before he nodded, lips tightly pursed. "Do you want me to come with you?"

...Well, that was a lot less dramatic than Damon was expecting. In fact, that was a surprisingly diplomatic and even response. Where was the pouting? ...Not that Damon wanted Jun to pout. He definitely didn't think it was super cute or anything. But this was suspiciously levelheaded of Jun, considering his previous reaction about their courtship ending.

The fact that Damon's eyebrows shot into his hairline gave away his inner thoughts and Jun shrugged. "Do what you need to do. I'll support you."

They lapsed back into comfortable silence, Jun gently massaging Damon's scalp, but Damon's throat was tight. Just when he thought Jun couldn't be more perfect, as a person or a boyfriend. He always knew the right moment to back off on something. Damon already felt guilty about his mother's interference in their relationship. So Jun conscientiously put his personal feelings aside so that Damon could focus on getting through the day.

"Unfortunately," Damon spoke up after a while, "you probably won't be allowed in. Basically, all I have to do is sign a piece of paper. If the judge rules in our favor, nothing will happen, but I can't see him doing that. He's most likely already made his decision."

That was just how it worked with these sorts of trials. Damon's mother submitted her reasoning for breaking off the courtship in writing, the judge reviewed it, and if he felt she had legitimate reason for wanting to end the courtship, he would do so. This kind of trial rarely went in favor of the parents, because they almost always had no good reason for taking this kind of step. However, Damon knew that his mother knew something that he didn't – some missing piece to the puzzle that actually made her scared for her son.

Damon didn't think it was a threat from the Reynes, or even the threat of incurring Venus pack's ire that was making his mother act this way. No, there was something else. And Damon had a feeling that whatever it was would most definitely prevent the judge from taking their side.

And, later that day, when Damon went to the courthouse, that's exactly what happened. His mother, pale and fatigued, sat at one side of the hall, Damon on the other, with the judge in the middle. Unsurprisingly, Judge Maynard imperiously declared that his mother's request to dissolve Damon's courtship was approved, handed Damon a form stating that he acknowledged having been invited to the proceedings (not that he consented to the result, of course, that didn't really matter), and Damon left, desperately holding in the urge to start clawing up the furniture.

He brushed past his mother on the way out of the courthouse, ignoring her clearly upset expression. It wasn't his problem. If she was going to meddle, she had to accept Damon's unhappiness with the result. He speed-walked back towards Jun's apartment, missing his scent already. He felt...unsettled deep inside. Like there was something he was forgetting – or something he should know about. It was an itch under his skin, worse than the creeping return of his nesting instincts.

He just...something felt wrong.

The feeling followed him the whole walk back, gradually getting more intense. He walked faster and faster – jogging by the time he was a block away from Jun's apartment.

And then he saw why he was so unsettled.

Five betas stood outside Jun's apartment. Two restrained Jun's arms, standing behind him as Jun stared impassively at someone, whose back was facing Damon. The other three flanked them. It was way too much manpower to deal with one, out of heat alpha. And of course, who could the last man be but Malachi. Damon was still too far away to hear what they were saying, but he caught the tail end of it as he sped toward them.

He knew this was going to happen. He knew Malachi wasn't going to just let it lie after getting himself beat up.

"...For harming a fellow pack member without provocation, you are to be detained until a council gathers to determine what your punishment will be. Failure to go peacefully will result in immediate exile."

Jun listened to Malachi spewing garbage with an almost bored expression – until he saw Damon over Malachi's shoulder and froze. He shook his head slightly.

Damon knew Jun wanted him to just walk away and let it happen. Damon didn't know where Malachi got the energy to be such a fucking douche all the goddamn time. Wasn't he supposed to be going into heat at some point? Even most of the late bloomers had gone into heat by now.

Maybe his hormones backed up in his brain and made him stupider than he already is. Whatever the case, Damon's nesting bitch hormones were just starting to pick up again, and his previous restraint over his emotions in the courthouse was starting to unravel.

Damon stalked forward, fully ready to decapitate the little shithead that thought it was a good idea to threaten his boyfriend on this day, of all days.